Learning the basics of French/Learn the tenses

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[edit] French Tenses - The Basics

In English, an infinitive is given with to in the front of it. To talk in English is an infinitive. In French, however, all infinitives are a single word. To talk in French is parler. Before reading, make yourself aware that there are three types of "regular" verbs in French. That is, these verbs follow a common pattern when conjugated. For these verbs, all you need to know is the infinitive and you can conjugate them for every tense. These verbs are the -er, -ir, and -re verbs. Meaning they all share the common -er, -ir, or -re ending. Just because a verb ends in one of these endings doesn't necessarily make it regular, it could still be irregular. Irregular verbs follow no real common pattern and must each be learned. In most cases, the form of an irregular verb is different from the common patterns that regular verbs follow in every tense.

In this chapter, we describe most of the conjugation tenses within French; in addition to past, present, and future, French has a series of conjugations depending on the usage of the verb. This resource is placed in three segments for present, past and future; the most important conjugations are located at the beginning of each major tense. There is no need to memorize the entire system, but you should take a look at the most common ones in each category; the more complex tenses can be learned or referred to later as necessary.

[edit] Present Tense

This is the tense we talk in most often. This is what is happening now as we speak. In French they have one translation for three English phrases. In English, one could say "they were running" in three ways. I run. I do run. or I am running are all translated into French as je cours (this is the French verb to run and it is an irregular verb.)

[edit] Regular Verbs

With regular verbs, each verb has a stem, which is the part that is common to all its inflected variants. With a regular verb, you will take the stem and add the ending that agrees with the subject.

For all of the regular verbs you simply drop the ending, either -er, -ir, or -re. For example, the stem for parler is parl (An example of an -er verb, all other regular -er verbs are the same.). This process is the same for -re, -ir, and -er verbs all alike, respectively (i.e. Finir becomes fin, and attendre becomes attend). So the stem for the verb parler (to talk) is parl, and to say I talk, you would simply add the corresponding ending -e. So, I talk in french is je parle.

[edit] Verbs ending in -er.

		singular	plural
first person		je(I)= -e	nous(we)= -ons
second person	informal	tu(you)= -es	vous(you all)= -ez
second person	formal	vous(you)= -ez	vous(you all)= -ez
third person	masculine	il(he)= -e	ils(they)= -ent
	feminine	elle(she)= -e	elles(they)= -ent

[edit] Verbs ending in -ir.

		singular	plural
first person		je(I)= -is	nous(we)= -issons
second person	informal	tu(you)= -is	vous(you all)= -issez
second person	formal	vous(you)= -issez	vous(you all)= -issez
third person	masculine	il(he)= -it	ils(they)= -issent
	feminine	elle(she)= -it	elles(they)= -issent

[edit] Verbs ending in -re.

While verbs ending in -re tend to follow this conjugation table, verbs in this group are generally conjugated irregularly.

		singular	plural
first person		je(I)= -s	nous(we)= -ons
second person	informal	tu(you)= -s	vous(you all)= -ez
second person	formal	vous(you)= -ez	vous(you all)= -ez
third person	masculine	il(he)= -(no ending)	ils(they)= -ent
	feminine	elle(she)= -(no ending)	elles(they)= -ent

[edit] Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the rules for regular verbs. In English, they include "to do" (I do, you do, he/she/it does, we do, you do (plural), they do) and in French they include "être" and "avoir" ("to be" and "to have"). They are a little more difficult to learn because they tend not follow rules, but don't let this put you off... It really is worth the effort to learn them off by heart!

We'll take the two french verbs mentioned above, "être" and "avoir", and I'll show you the conjugations for them:

Être - To Be

Je suis - I am

Tu es - You are (singular, informal)

Il/Elle est - He/She is

On est - One is (very informal)

Nous sommes - We are

Vous êtes - You are (plural, formal)

Ils sont - They are (male or including a male)

Elles sont - They are (entirely female)

Avoir - To have

J'ai - I have

Tu as - You have (singular, informal)

Il/Elle a - He/She has

On a - One has (very formal)

Nous avons - We have

Vous avez - You have (plural, formal)

Ils ont - They have (male or including a male)

Elles ont - They have (entirely female)

An other irregular verb :

Aller - To go

Je vais - I go

Tu vas - You go (singular, informal)

Il/Elle va - He/She goes

On va - One goes (very informal)

Nous allons - We go

Vous allez - You go (plural, formal)

Ils vont - They go (male or including a male)

Elles vont - They go (entirely female)

Irregular verbs are also scattered throughout the verbs ending with -er, -ir, and -re. While they may share some aspects of conjugation, their endings are usually different from one stage to another.

[edit] Present imperative - l'impératif

The present imperative is a command given from the speaker. There are only three conjugations for tu, nous and vous, and their usage does not include the pronoun.

As with present, you remove replace ending. The second person singular conjugation for verbs ending in -er is -e, and all other regular verbs are conjugated normally according to present.

[edit] Present Participle - participe présent

The present participle is used to indicate the manner at which another verb was completed.

This conjugation is formed from the present tense conjugation of nous, and replacing the -ons ending with -ant. There are three exceptions: être becomes étant, avoir becomes ayant, and savoir becomes sachant.

[edit] Conditional Present - le conditionnel présent

The conditional present is used for hypothetical situations.

It is formed by appending the endings for L'imparfait to the infinitve. As with futur simple, the spelling of some verbs may change.

		singular	plural
first person		je -ais	nous -ions
second person		tu -ais	vous -iez
third person	masculine	il -ait	ils -aient
third person	feminine	elle -ait	elles -aient

[edit] Subjunctive Present - subjonctif présent

The subjunctive present is used to indicate feelings or beliefs or doubts rather than facts. It is normally used in specific dependent clauses

This conjugation is formed from the third person plural, by removing -ent, and adding the endings below:

		singular	plural
first person		que je -e	que nous -ions
second person		que tu -es	que vous -iez
third person	masculine	qu'il -e	qu'ils -ent
third person	feminine	qu'elle -e	qu'elles -ent

[edit] Past tense

[edit] Past tense - Passé composé

The past tense indicates that an action occurred in the past. In English, you will see "He had finished...", with French using a similar pattern with "Il a fini..."

[edit] Regular verbs

The regular conjugation for the past tense involves conjugating Avoir, and adding the past participle afterwards. This past participle is created by taking the stem of the verb in question (removing the -er, -ir or -re ending) and replacing it with the past tense ending, as shown below:

J'ai écouté - I had listened
Tu as fini - you had finished
il a attendu - he has waited

As you can see, the passé composé ending for the three conjugations are é, i, and u respectivly.

[edit] Irregular verbs

The irregular verbs in french have a varying ending for passé composé, and there is no specific method for determing which one to use. As a result, you will need to consult a reference book or memorize them.

As an example, take a look for avoir and etre

J'ai eu
J'ai été

[edit] Être in passé composé

With some verbs in past tense, you need to conjugate them with être instead of avoir - these verbs usually include a change of state.

naître
devenir
mourir
monter
rester
descendre
tomber
arriver
entrer
venir
aller
sortir
partir
revenir
rentrer
retourner
passer

This list is not exclusive, as verbs used in an intrasitive fashion (without a direct object) are also conjugated with être - for example, it is possible to see "Il est fini", which has a different meaning than "Il a fini".

[edit] Imperfect past - L'imparfait

The imperfect past tense is a one-word past tense that indicates past action that is ongoing (for example, something that is continuous or habitual). It uses the stem from the present tense of the nous conjugation (with the exception of être, which has the stem ét), and uses the endings in the table below:

		singular	plural
first person		je -ais	nous -ions
second person		tu -ais	vous -iez
third person	masculine	il -ait	ils -aient
third person	feminine	elle -ait	elles -aient

[edit] Immediate Past - passé immédiat

The immediate past conjugation relates to an action that was performed recently in the past. Unlike passé composé, this tense indicates that the subject had just finished the activity, or is "coming from" said activity.

It is formed by conjugating the irregular verb venir (to come) in present tense, and adding the preposition de (from) followed by the infinitif.

The English translation can be interpreted as "I have just <verb>".

		singular	plural
first person		je viens de <verb>	nous venons de <verb>
second person		tu viens de <verb>	vous venez de <verb>
third person	masculine	il vient de <verb>	ils viennent de <verb>
third person	feminine	elle vient de <verb>	elles viennent de <verb>

[edit] Conditional past - conditionnel passé

This tense indicates an action which would have taken place in the past if a condition is met.

This compound conjugation is formed by taking the present conditional of the auxillary verb (either avoir or être) and the past participle of the verb.

[edit] Future tense

[edit] Close Future - futur proche

This tense is used to indicate that something is going to occurr in the near future. This conjugation results in a compound verb; first, aller is conjugated as if it were in the present tense, and is then followed by the infinitive of the original verb. Unlike passé composé, there is no change in the infinitive. Attention in French grammar is not considered a tense but as a grammatical construction.

In English, the literal translation of this tense is "subject is going to..."

		singular	plural
first person		je vais <verb>	nous allons <verb>
second person		tu vas <verb>	vous allez <verb>
third person	masculine	il va <verb>	ils vont <verb>
third person	feminine	elle va <verb>	elles vont <verb>

[edit] Future - Futur simple

This tense involved an action that will occurr in the future (but not necessarily in the near future.)

It is formed by appending the endings below to the infinitive. Some verbs have a minor spelling change when conjugated in this tense; these exceptions must be memorized.

		singular	plural
first person		je -ai	nous -ons
second person		tu -as	vous -ez
third person	masculine	il -a	ils -ont
third person	feminine	elle -a	elles -ont

[edit] Future perfect - futur antérieur

This tense indicates an action which was completed in the past in comparison of another future event.

This compond conjugation is formed from the future tense of the auxillary (avoir or être) and the past participle of the verb.